Reviews

This black metal band from Germany (where else?) can only be described by their influences. It seems that almost every black metal band that comes out is influenced by the band that immediately preceded them. From the first track, "The Silver Gate," it is clear that they've been listening to a lot of recent Cradle of Filth and Satyricon. It isn't until the third song, "Baphomet," that the band starts diversifying a bit, adding some melody and some real metal guitar, which is interesting to hear.

However, "The Unflesh" makes you want to reach for the ‘skip' button asap. Bad drumming, almost rhythm-less playing from everybody else and vocalist Morean growling incoherently about something. Clearly, this band needs new influences. Fortunately, they've already started inserting some. Whoever adds keyboards and/or effects to this band has definitely been listening to Roddy Bottum, former keyboardist in Faith No More; the effect they have on Dark Fortress' sound can't be denied because it seems like a ray of light beaming through the inky blackness.

As the record drags on, tracks like "Edge of Night" almost make the listener's ears bleed with its mind-numbing sound. Although drummer Seraph actually sounds halfway decent on this track, the rest of the band can't seem to follow and end up sounding the same.

By the end of the record, one's head will be swelling to the point where they can't listen to anything else for a while. A real novel idea would be for a black metal band to experiment with acoustics and not try to be so damn blistering all the time.

While this band has been around since 1994, it doesn't seem that they're treading any new ground. At this stage in the game, it might be time to take a look around and see what else they can try out, to make themselves different from their influences.